Ride Reports

Sunday 11th. September.

Dave Siswick
Long Ride

Route 155 up to Kettlewell and over the top for the last long ride of the season. Six riders went up Duck Street but only 3 had their eye on the scheduled ride. Richard & Tim (T1) left us at the Skyreholme turn to go down to Bolton Abbey and home. Tea & cake at Grassington for the remaining riders before heading north up to Buckden. Dan branched left to Hubberholme & Hawes to undertake an even longer escapade. Andy, Vince & Tall Tim ploughed on steadily up Kidstones for a short while before a puncture briefly intervened. Now in lovely sunshine the group reached the summit & settled down to spin their way into Masham & Johny Baghdad’s, then Ripon & Knaresborough Hill. 89 miles, 5,700 ft of climb. Tall Tim

 

 

 

 

Medium Plus Steady Ride

There was an autumnal feeling this morning with a slight chill in the air and quite a few fallen leaves on the paths. Eight riders opted to join me on the ride to Tadcaster – Helen T, Liz F, James G, Peter B, Martin W, David W and Steve W and John C. There was some initial confusion on the direction of the route, but having established that, we set off in the direction of Farnham and Arkendale. Martin said cheerio at Great Ouseburn in pursuit of a good coffee at Boroughbridge. The rest continued at a good pace to Whixley, Cattal and Tockwith. Shortly after Steve departed for home near Askham Richard and then we were all looking forward to our break in Tadcaster.  Very good refreshments and service at The Lemon Tree. (They prefer you to call beforehand and give an approximate arrival time if you intend to go there) After lunch John left us to motor home, and with the sun out and jackets removed, we continued to Bramham and Collingham. A nice change to cycle down Jewit Lane! The remainder was a very pleasant route homeward through Linton, Sicklinghall and Kirkby Overblow. Everyone agreed that it had made a very pleasant change to cycle this route in reverse.      52 miles        Monica

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Short Ride
Seven people for the short ride today (David, Brian, Dave, Denis, Bob, Paul, Diane). We set off with the brisk group and took great care not to accidentally end up doing their 90 mile route! Instead we headed to Beckwithshaw and on to Little Almscliffe. As we stopped for a re-group on Norwood Lane, we saw Justine approaching in the distance. She had missed us on Leadhall Lane and had to cycle full pelt to catch us up (bravo Justine!). Further along Norwood Lane we bumped in to Mike and Fiona Walsh and so we were briefly a group of 11. We cycled happily along in the sunshine – only stopping when the leader wanted to take yet another photo……..
At Hampsthwaite we said good-bye to Denis, who had been making very light work of the hills, as he went home for his Sunday Roast. The rest of us made the most of the beautiful September weather and sat outside eating cake at Sophie’s teashop. Heading home via Hollins Hill, we said goodbye to Dave and then Bob. Those that were left negotiated their way through Knox Mill. Huge thank you to David S for doing a brilliant job of back-marking. Thank you everyone for your company. 22 miles and 1, 300 feet of climbing. Colette
Medium Steady Ride

We had a full group for the Medium Steady ride, nine people departing from the showground joined by a tenth early on, and I can’t remember who joined us versus who started from the showground, so the ten were Mike, Yvonne, Debbie, Mike, Steve, Sarah, Bridget, Sally, Kevin, and Navah. Navah was leading; she’s fully committed to the responsibility of being a ride leader, but perhaps not fully competent at it. Confusion about the start of the ride resulted in some faffing about, and a weird extraneous extension on Rossett Green Lane past Church Lane on the mapped Route 43 from Ride With GPS caused an unplanned detour (because Navah’s brain was attached to her phone, despite Yvonne’s best efforts), but the group eventually made it back onto the official route at Kirkby Overblow (which is one of the best place names ever). The gray morning warmed up and the sun came out, and it turned into a great day to be out. The route was new to a number of the riders, with it’s wooded stretches and lovely views, occasional challenging hill, and some less-than-pleasant busy roads. Multiple signs warned of no road access across Eccup Reservoir, but nothing was actually closed. We rode like a Slinky, getting strung out and then regrouping repeatedly. At Wetherby, all the tables at The Gourmet were taken, but we asked if they’d set up for us outside and the staff very kindly accommodated us. After tea/coffee and scones/tea cakes (and an adorable dog), Yvonne and Debbie decided to go off on their own to extend the ride, and eight headed back to Harrogate. We skipped the gravel and dirt path, which was sure to be mucky, and detoured on asphalt through Little Ribston to Spofforth. Sarah and Bridget left us in Follifoot, and then Mike pulled off to go to Pannal, so five finished the ride back to the showground together. For those, the ride was about 34 miles and 2000 ft of climbing. Thanks to everyone for being kind to Navah, despite her multiple (and usually quickly corrected) wrong turns. -Navah L.